Current Extended Reality (XR) devices are increasingly being used as productivity tools. Compared to conventional setups, they allow for more flexibility in dynamic work locations beyond the desktop while providing a large virtual workspace. Recent research has explored how users organize digital documents and how virtual interfaces could be adapted to different locations and scenarios. However, there has been limited research on how location changes affect productivity tasks in XR environments and how users manually adapt virtual content layouts after such task interruptions. To address this, we conducted an exploratory user study (N=17) in which participants worked on a document-centered organization and planning task while changing locations every five minutes. We examined how these spatial transitions interfered with the task and identified layout strategies and patterns. From our observations and participant responses, we derived a set of design guidelines to inform the development of future XR knowledge work systems in mobile contexts.

Controlling devices connected to the Internet of Things often requires juggling multiple smartphone apps or physical remote controls, creating a fragmented user experience. Augmented Reality (AR) can afford superior control by automatically presenting virtual user interfaces that are spatially aligned with networked devices. However, before such user interfaces can be delivered, physical devices must be localized in the environment. This paper introduces LORIOT (LOcalization-Ready Internet Of Things), a novel end-to-end system that uses a semantic scene graph and a large language model to map the identities of the networked devices to physical objects, given a pre-filtered set of IoT-device candidate nodes. A declarative UI specification enables automatic generation of device control panels for AR and non-AR clients. We evaluate the mapping component on a controlled synthetic-room benchmark of 100 randomly generated rooms. Using device network metadata alone, we achieve a baseline macro-averaged F1 score of 0.80 for digital $\rightarrow$→ physical associations. When device metadata is enriched with physical attributes (mounting location, materials, color, and size), performance improves to 0.88. Moreover, we evaluate the benefit of spatially registered AR control in a within-subject user study ($N{=}20$N=20), comparing in-situ AR panels against conventional non-AR control with smartphone apps or physical remote controls. AR yields significantly faster task completion, lower mental demand, and higher usability.

A replication attempts to confirm outcomes of earlier research, which is critical in validating and generalizing scientific findings. Yet, its prevalence and practices remain underexplored in Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) research. To address this, we present a scoping literature review of replication studies within IEEE ISMAR and IEEE VR, spanning 15 years from 2010 to 2024. Our analysis revealed that replication in AR/VR research is rare. Of 2167 total papers reviewed, less than 4 % were identified as replication studies. Of these, conceptual replications were the predominant type (57 %). Most of those were studies in VR (67 %) and within-subject designs (66 %). Complementing the literature survey results, we conducted an online survey with 61 participants about their experiences with replication studies and found that 39 % of them had conducted a replication study. However, limited resources and external motivation hamper the execution of replication studies among these AR/VR researchers. Combining the findings from our literature review and online survey, we discuss the current state of replication research and the factors contributing to its infrequency. We provide recommendations to improve AR/VR research replication practices, focusing on research culture and reporting, and discuss ongoing challenges.

Extended Reality (XR) is increasingly used as a productivity tool and recent commercial XR devices have even been specifically designed as productivity tools, or, at least, are heavily advertised for such purposes, such as the Apple Vision Pro (AVP), which has now been available for more than one year. In spite of what marketing suggests, research still lacks an understanding of the long-term usage of such devices in ecologically valid everyday settings, as most studies are conducted in very controlled environments. Therefore, we conducted interviews with ten AVP users to better understand how experienced users engage with the device, and which limitations persist. Our participants report that XR can increase productivity and that they got used to the device after some time. Yet, a range of limitations persist that might hinder the widespread use of XR as a productivity tool, such as a lack of native applications, difficulties when integrating XR into current workflows, and limited possibilities to adapt and customize the XR experience.

The ‘keyword method’ is an effective technique for learning vocabulary of a foreign language. It involves creating a memorable visual link between what a word means and what its pronunciation in a foreign language sounds like in the learner’s native language. However, these memorable visual links remain implicit in the people’s mind and are not easy to remember for a large number of words. To enhance the memorisation and recall of the vocabulary, we developed an application that combines the keyword method with text-to-image generators to externalise the memorable visual links into visuals. These visuals represent additional stimuli during the memorisation process. To explore the effectiveness of this approach we first run a pilot study to investigate how difficult it is to externalise the descriptions of mental visualisations of memorable links, by asking participants to write them down. We used these descriptions as prompts for text-to-image generator (DALL-E 2) to convert them into images and asked participants to select their favourites. Next, we compared different text-to-image generators (DALL-E 2, Midjourney, Stable and Latent Diffusion) to evaluate the perceived quality of the generated images by each. Despite heterogeneous results, participants mostly preferred images generated by DALL-E 2, which was used also for the final study. In this study, we investigated whether providing such images enhances the retention of vocabulary being learned, compared to the keyword method alone. Our results indicate that people did not encounter difficulties describing their visualisations of memorable links and that providing corresponding images significantly increases memory retention.

In mixed reality (MR) telepresence applications, the differences between participants' physical environments can interfere with effective collaboration. For asymmetric tasks, users might need to access different resources (information, objects, tools) distributed throughout their room. Existing intersection methods do not support such interactions, because a large portion of the telepresence participants' rooms become inaccessible, along with the relevant task resources. We propose MRUnion, a Mixed Reality Telepresence pipeline for asymmetric task-aware 3D mutual scene generation. The key concept of our approach is to enable a user in an asymmetric telecollaboration scenario to access the entire room, while still being able to communicate with remote users in a shared space. For this purpose, we introduce a novel mutual room layout called Union. We evaluated 882 space combinations quantitatively involving two, three, and four combined remote spaces and compared it to a conventional Intersect room layout. The results show that our method outperforms existing intersection methods and enables a significant increase in space and accessibility to resources within the shared space. In an exploratory user study (N=24), we investigated the applicability of the synthetic mutual scene in both MR and VR setups, where users collaborated on an asymmetric remote assembly task. The study results showed that our method achieved comparable results to the intersect method but requires further investigation in terms of social presence, safety and support of collaboration. From this study, we derived design implications for synthetic mutual spaces.

Although access to sufficient screen space is crucial to knowledge work, workers often find themselves with limited access to display infrastructure in remote or public settings. While virtual displays can be used to extend the available screen space through extended reality (XR) head-worn displays (HWD), we must better understand the implications of working with them in public settings from both users' and bystanders' viewpoints. To this end, we conducted two user studies. We first explored the usage of a hybrid AR display across real-world settings and tasks. We focused on how users take advantage of virtual displays and what social and environmental factors impact their usage of the system. A second study investigated the differences between working with a laptop, an AR system, or a VR system in public. We focused on a single location and participants performed a predefined task to enable direct comparisons between the conditions while also gathering data from bystanders. The combined results suggest a positive acceptance of XR technology in public settings and show that virtual displays can be used to accompany existing devices. We highlighted some environmental and social factors. We saw that previous XR experience and personality can influence how people perceive the use of XR in public. In addition, we confirmed that using XR in public still makes users stand out and that bystanders are curious about the devices, yet have no clear understanding of how they can be used.

Nowadays, Mixed Reality (MR) headsets are a game-changer for knowledge work. Unlike stationary monitors, MR headsets allow users to work with large virtual displays anywhere they wear the headset, whether in a professional office, a public setting like a cafe, or a quiet space like a library. This study compares four different layouts (eye level-close, eye level-far, below eye level-close, below eye level-far) of virtual displays regarding feelings of safety, perceived productivity, and social acceptability when working with MR in public. We test which layout is most preferred by users and seek to understand which factors affect users’ layout preferences. The aim is to derive useful insights for designing better MR layouts. A field study in a public library was conducted using a within-subject design. While the participants interact with a layout, they are asked to work on a planning task. The results from a repeated measure ANOVA show a statistically significant effect on productivity but not on safety and social acceptability. Additionally, we report preferences expressed by the users regarding the layouts and using MR in public.

Research on text entry in Virtual Reality (VR) has gained popularity but the efficient entry of accented characters, characters with diacritical marks, in VR remains underexplored. Entering accented characters is supported on most capacitive touch keyboards through a long press on a base character and a subsequent selection of the accented character. However, entering those characters on physical keyboards is still challenging, as they require a recall and an entry of respective numeric codes. To address this issue this paper investigates three techniques to support accented character entry on physical keyboards in VR. Specifically, we compare a contextaware numeric code technique that does not require users to recall a code, a key-press-only condition in which the accented characters are dynamically remapped to physical keys next to a base character, and a multimodal technique, in which eye gaze is used to select the accented version of a base character previously selected by keypress on the keyboard. The results from our user study $(n=18)$ reveal that both the key-press-only and the multimodal technique outperform the baseline technique in terms of text entry speed.

VR devices have recently been actively promoted as tools for knowledge workers and prior work has demonstrated that VR can support some knowledge worker tasks. However, only a few studies have explored the effects of prolonged use of VR such as a study observing 16 participants working in VR and a physical environment for one work-week each and reporting mainly on subjective feedback. As a nuanced understanding of participants' behavior in VR and how it evolves over time is still missing, we report on the results from an analysis of 559 hours of video material obtained in this prior study. Among other findings, we report that (1) the frequency of actions related to adjusting the headset reduced by 46% and the frequency of actions related to supporting the headset reduced by 42% over the five days; (2) the HMD was removed 31% less frequently over the five days but for 41% longer periods; (3) wearing an HMD is disruptive to normal patterns of eating and drinking, but not to social interactions, such as talking. The combined findings in this work demonstrate the value of long-term studies of deployed VR systems and can be used to inform the design of better, more ergonomic VR systems as tools for knowledge workers.

While the promise of autonomous vehicles has led to significant scientific and industrial progress, fully automated, SAE level 5 conform cars will likely not see mass adoption anytime soon. Instead, in many applications, human supervision, such as remote monitoring and teleoperation, will be required for the foreseeable future. While Virtual Reality (VR) has been proposed as one potential interface for teleoperation, its benefits and drawbacks over physical monitoring and teleoperation solutions have not been thoroughly investigated. To this end, we contribute three user studies, comparing and quantifying the performance of and subjective feedback for a VR-based system with an existing monitoring and teleoperation system, which is in industrial use today. Through these three user studies, we contribute to a better understanding of future virtual monitoring and teleoperation solutions for autonomous vehicles. The results of our first user study (n= 16) indicate that a VR interface replicating the physical interface does not outperform the physical interface. It also quantifies the negative effects that combined monitoring and teleoperating tasks have on users irrespective of the interface being used. The results of the second user study (n= 24) indicate that the perceptual and ergonomic issues caused by VR outweigh its benefits, like better concentration through isolation. The third follow-up user study (n= 24) specifically targeted the perceptual and ergonomic issues of VR; the subjective feedback of this study indicates that newer-generation VR headsets have the potential to catch up with the current physical displays.

Virtual Reality (VR) has the potential to support mobile knowledge workers by complementing traditional input devices with a large three-dimensional output space and spatial input. Previous research on supporting VR knowledge work explored domains such as text entry using physical keyboards and spreadsheet interaction using combined pen and touch input. Inspired by such work, this paper probes the VR design space for authoring presentations in mobile settings. We propose PoVRPoint-a set of tools coupling pen- and touch-based editing of presentations on mobile devices, such as tablets, with the interaction capabilities afforded by VR. We study the utility of extended display space to, for example, assist users in identifying target slides, supporting spatial manipulation of objects on a slide, creating animations, and facilitating arrangements of multiple, possibly occluded shapes or objects. Among other things, our results indicate that 1) the wide field of view afforded by VR results in significantly faster target slide identification times compared to a tablet-only interface for visually salient targets; and 2) the three-dimensional view in VR enables significantly faster object reordering in the presence of occlusion compared to two baseline interfaces. A user study further confirmed that the interaction techniques were found to be usable and enjoyable.

Virtual Reality (VR) provides new possibilities for modern knowledge work. However, the potential advantages of virtual work environments can only be used if it is feasible to work in them for an extended period of time. Until now, there are limited studies of long-term effects when working in VR. This paper addresses the need for understanding such long-term effects. Specifically, we report on a comparative study $i$, in which participants were working in VR for an entire week-for five days, eight hours each day-as well as in a baseline physical desktop environment. This study aims to quantify the effects of exchanging a desktop-based work environment with a VR-based environment. Hence, during this study, we do not present the participants with the best possible VR system but rather a setup delivering a comparable experience to working in the physical desktop environment. The study reveals that, as expected, VR results in significantly worse ratings across most measures. Among other results, we found concerning levels of simulator sickness, below average usability ratings and two participants dropped out on the first day using VR, due to migraine, nausea and anxiety. Nevertheless, there is some indication that participants gradually overcame negative first impressions and initial discomfort. Overall, this study helps lay the groundwork for subsequent research, by clearly highlighting current shortcomings and identifying opportunities for improving the experience of working in VR.

Learning vocabulary in a primary or secondary language is enhanced when we encounter words in context. This context can be afforded by the place or activity we are engaged with. Existing learning environments include formal learning, mnemonics, flashcards, use of a dictionary or thesaurus, all leading to practice with new words in context. In this work, we propose an enhancement to the language learning process by providing the user with words and learning tools in context, with VocabulARy. VocabulARy visually annotates objects in AR, in the user's surroundings, with the corresponding English (first language) and Japanese (second language) words to enhance the language learning process. In addition to the written and audio description of each word, we also present the user with a keyword and its visualisation to enhance memory retention. We evaluate our prototype by comparing it to an alternate AR system that does not show an additional visualisation of the keyword, and, also, we compare it to two non-AR systems on a tablet, one with and one without visualising the keyword. Our results indicate that AR outperforms the tablet system regarding immediate recall, mental effort and task-completion time. Additionally, the visualisation approach scored significantly higher than showing only the written keyword with respect to immediate and delayed recall and learning efficiency, mental effort and task-completion time.

Virtual Reality (VR) can enhance the display and interaction of mobile knowledge work and in particular, spreadsheet applications. While spreadsheets are widely used yet are challenging to interact with, especially on mobile devices, using them in VR has not been explored in depth. A special uniqueness of the domain is the contrast between the immersive and large display space afforded by VR, contrasted by the very limited interaction space that may be afforded for the information worker on the go, such as an airplane seat or a small work-space. To close this gap, we present a tool-set for enhancing spreadsheet interaction on tablets using immersive VR headsets and pen-based input. This combination opens up many possibilities for enhancing the productivity for spreadsheet interaction. We propose to use the space around and in front of the tablet for enhanced visualization of spreadsheet data and meta-data. For example, extending sheet display beyond the bounds of the physical screen, or easier debugging by uncovering hidden dependencies between sheet's cells. Combining the precise on-screen input of a pen with spatial sensing around the tablet, we propose tools for the efficient creation and editing of spreadsheets functions such as off-the-screen layered menus, visualization of sheets dependencies, and gaze-and-touch-based switching between spreadsheet tabs. We study the feasibility of the proposed tool-set using a video-based online survey and an expert-based assessment of indicative human performance potential.

Augmented Reality (AR) and wearable sensors offer new possibilities to expand our senses and change how we interact with the world. Sensory augmentation can be integrated into everyday activities, but controls remain a challenge for user experience. In this paper, we investigate how users can control a futuristic interface that enables in-situ magnification. We designed an interactive system to enable users to zoom in on objects up to a microscopic level and implemented a prototype using the Microsoft Hololens. In a user-study, we compared full-screen to windowed visualizations and four interaction techniques for zooming: a clicker, two types of gestures, and voice. Our results indicate that the clicker enabled users to zoom at the fastest rate and lowered cognitive load. We also found a preference for windowed views. With our work, we provide insights for future augmented vision systems.

Virtual Reality (VR) has the potential to transform knowledge work. One advantage of VR knowledge work is that it allows extending 2D displays into the third dimension, enabling new operations, such as selecting overlapping objects or displaying additional layers of information. On the other hand, mobile knowledge workers often work on established mobile devices, such as tablets, limiting interaction with those devices to a small input space. This challenge of a constrained input space is intensified in situations when VR knowledge work is situated in cramped environments, such as airplanes and touchdown spaces. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of interacting jointly between an immersive VR head-mounted display and a tablet within the context of knowledge work. Specifically, we 1) design, implement and study how to interact with information that reaches beyond a single physical touchscreen in VR; 2) design and evaluate a set of interaction concepts; and 3) build example applications and gather user feedback on those applications.